The Mercy Journals is a near-future novel set thirty years after a devastating third world war and the runaway effects of climate change. Nation-states have collapsed, over a third of the world’s population is gone, and fragile new forms of survival have emerged from the ruins.
At the centre is Mercy, a former soldier living with PTSD, guilt, and the ghost of his lost family. His carefully controlled life shifts when he meets Ruby, a dancer whose presence offers unexpected hope. When Mercy’s estranged brother Leo appears with a claim that Mercy’s children may still be alive, the brothers set out into the wilderness to search for them.
Their journey pushes them into landscapes scarred by conflict and environmental disaster, where memory, trauma, and desire collide. As Mercy confronts long-buried truths, he is forced to question what he owes to the past, what forgiveness might mean, and how far he will go to protect those he loves.
Claudia Casper’s novel blends dystopian atmosphere with intimate psychological drama, exploring personal morality, family loyalty, and the fragile possibility of redemption at a turning point in human history.
- Dystopian setting shaped by war and climate collapse
- Complex portrait of PTSD and survivor’s guilt
- Focus on family, memory, and forgiveness
- Award-winning speculative fiction
